Xilotl (MH537v)

Xilotl (MH537v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Xilotl (“Tender Ear of Maize,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of an upright ear of corn with the husk pulled back and the kernels clearly visible. Some silk comes off the top of the ear, and a bit of the stem also remains.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Corn cobs most often came in two forms--forming, ready to eat, and dried, for pulling off the cob and grinding into corn flower for making tortillas and tamales, among other foods. The xilotl is the former. Francisca Xilotl was one of five widows presented as a group.

The term and name Xilotl is much more common than Elotl in this collection. Perhaps the name Xilotl, which refers to the corn cob that was still forming kernels, was more akin to a new baby (as a metaphor) than Elotl, which had already formed its kernels.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

franca xillotl ycnoçiva. v.

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisca Xilotl, icnocihua v

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising
Corn, Maize
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (female)
Metaphors, Proverbs, Riddles
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
segmented
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

corn, maize, maíz, elotes, food, comida, plants, plantas, agricultura

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

xilo(tl), small tender ear of maize, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xilotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Mazorca Tierna, Jilote, Elote

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 537v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=154&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: